Scranton turns out for ‘Office’ party
The actors who play Pam, Jim, Dwight and other beloved characters from the popular NBC show “The Office” bade farewell on Saturday to the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Scranton that served as the TV setting for their fictional paper company.
The NBC mockumentary about a clan of quirky cubicle-dwellers at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. wraps up May 16 after nine seasons, and a crowd estimated at 10,000 attended a “Wrap Party” in Scranton to show their appreciation.
Jenna Fischer, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson and other stars rode in classic convertibles and posed for hundreds of photos as fans thronged around them. The stars later took the stage in front of the Lackawanna County Courthouse and played a concert with The Scrantones, the band that performed the show’s theme song.
Steve Carell, who played office boss buffoon Michael Scott, wasn’t expected to make an appearance but surprised fans at a celebration later outside the city at PNC Field, home of the New York Yankees’ Triple A affiliate, the (Scranton) Times-Tribune reported.
Author sues for ‘Mockingbird’ rights
Harper Lee, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” filed a lawsuit Friday to resecure the copyright to it. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan seeks unspecified damages from the son-in-law of Lee’s former literary agent and companies he allegedly created.
The lawsuit alleges the son-in-law, Samuel Pinkus, failed to properly protect the copyright of the book after his father-in-law, Eugene Winick – who had represented Lee as a literary agent since the book was published in 1960 through the firm McIntosh and Otis – became ill a decade ago. The 87-year-old author alleges Pinkus took advantage of her declining hearing and eyesight seven years ago to get her to assign the book’s copyright to him and a company he controlled.
The birthday bunch
Actress Pat Carroll is 86. Actor Michael Murphy is 75. Comedian-actor Michael Palin is 70. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 69. NBC News anchor Brian Williams is 54. Singer Adele is 25. Rock singer Skye Sweetnam is 25. Rhythm-and-blues singer Chris Brown is 24.